METH DANGER

Pot, Ecstasy Laced With Deadly Drug

Local pot smokers and other drug users may be unwittingly ingesting
crystal methamphetamine, a highly-addictive and potentially-deadly
stimulant that police say has surfaced in Orillia.

"It is scary," OPP Const. Gerry Dwyer told a reporter this week,
moments before addressing a gymnasium of elementary school students
on the dangers of drug abuse.

Long associated with Canada's western provinces - where the crudely
made drug has had a devastating impact on communities - crystal meth
has been appearing in parts of southern Ontario for several years.

This week, police confirmed that local dealers are now lacing
marijuana and other products with meth in the hope of hooking their
customers on the extremely addictive stimulant.

"It can happen to the nicest person in the world," Dwyer said.

Ninety per cent of the pills seized in a recent ecstasy bust were
found to contain crystal meth, investigators discovered. "A lot of
the marijuana is being laced with it, too, so it has become highly
addictive," said Dwyer.

Dwyer and other officers involved in OPP-run drug education programs
targeting elementary-school students, are increasingly focusing on
crystal meth and its associated dangers

In a darkened gymnasium at Regent Park School on Wednesday morning,
Grade 7 and 8 students watched in stunned silence a video featuring
interviews with parents whose children had died as a result of drug abuse.

Tearful, her voice breaking with emotion, one mother recounted her
daughter's final hours in the throes of an overdose, the teen's body
giving out after being kept alive on a respirator.

"You have to hit them hard," said Dwyer. "If we save one kid here, it
is going to be worth it.

"We know the drugs are out there in the high schools and in some
elementary schools," he added. "We have to prepare them."

The initial "rush" provided by crystal meth can last a half hour,
though the high can linger for a dozen hours before the user finally
collapses from exhaustion.

They often fall into a state of depression, and can turn violent or
aggressive unexpectedly.

As of April, grocery and convenience stores without pharmacies no
longer sell cough and cold medications containing ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine - ingredients used in the production of crystal
methamphetamine.

Medications containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine as single
ingredients were moved behind the counter at pharmacies, while those
containing multiple ingredients continue to be available on shelves.